Ruslan Karaev is a professional Ossetian kickboxer and martial artist. He is K-1 World GP 2005 in Las Vegas and K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Taipei tournament champion. He is currently living in Tokyo, Japan and training at Ihara Dojo Gym.

On August 13, 2005 Ruslan Karaev made his K-1 tournament debut at K-1 World GP 2005 in Las Vegas as a virtual unknown. In quarter finals Karaev faced Freddy Kemayo of France and won the bout by 1 round spinning back kick KO that caught Kemayo in the midsection. In the semifinals, Karaev faced muay thai stylist Azem Maksutaj, what was later acknowledged as one of the greatest battles of K-1 history. He topped his performance of the night by a unanimous decision win over American Scott Lighty and was crowned the tournament champion.

On September 23, 2005 at the K-1 World GP Final Eliminations in Osaka Dome, Japan he faced Rickard Nordstrand from Sweden the replacement fighter of four time World Champion Ernesto Hoost who had to pull out due to a leg injury. Ruslan won the fight by unanimous decision and earned his first appearance at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 Finals.

Ruslan finished up his rookie year in K-1 on November 19, 2005 at the Tokyo Dome, his quarterfinal opponent was Musashi. Ruslan lost the fight by a controversial extra round split decision.

On June 23, 2007 at K-1 World GP 2007 in Amsterdam he suffered his third consecutive KO loss to Melvin Manhoef.

Ruslan missed his announced fight against Jerome Le Banner on September 29, 2007 at K-1 World GP 2007 Final Elimination in Seoul, Korea, due to a traffic accident suffered several days before the match.